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The Public Track Access Index
Not all states are equal for the runner who just wants a track to run laps on. This index ranks every state on two things that decide that: how many running tracks it has per million residents, and what share of those tracks are actually open to the public, free, lit for night running, indoor, and rubber-surfaced. Click any column to re-sort. The full table is downloadable as a CSV.
What the numbers say
Across the country there are roughly 1.08 running tracks per 100,000 residents, and only about 18% of all tracks are confirmed open to the public — nearly all of those free to use. That "open to the public" share is the number that matters most: a state can be dense with tracks and still leave runners hunting for one they can actually get onto, because so many ovals sit behind school and college fences.
District of Columbia leads the country for sheer availability, with about 25.6 tracks per million residents — several times the 5.9 per million in North Carolina, at the bottom of the list. Density tracks loosely with school-building patterns and how rural a state is: places with many small towns, each with its own school oval, score high even when few of those tracks are formally "public."
Access tells a different story than raw count. Among states with a real sample of tracks, North Dakota has the highest share confirmed open to the public (about 45%), Arkansas the highest share lit for night running (17%), and North Dakota the highest share on a fast rubber all-weather surface (27%). If you're relocating and you run on the track, these access columns — not the headline count — are what to read.
| State | Tracks | Per 1M | % Public | % Free | % Lit | % Indoor | % Rubber |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District of Columbia | 18 | 25.6 | 6% | 6% | 6% | 0% | 0% |
| Alaska | 15 | 20.3 | 20% | 20% | 7% | 13% | 20% |
| Utah | 68 | 19.4 | 19% | 19% | 6% | 16% | 4% |
| Illinois | 231 | 18.2 | 28% | 28% | 3% | 23% | 11% |
| Massachusetts | 125 | 17.5 | 19% | 19% | 7% | 17% | 7% |
| Connecticut | 64 | 17.4 | 5% | 5% | 2% | 9% | 5% |
| New Jersey | 161 | 16.9 | 25% | 25% | 4% | 16% | 7% |
| Kansas | 50 | 16.8 | 14% | 14% | 2% | 20% | 4% |
| Indiana | 112 | 16.2 | 11% | 11% | 2% | 18% | 3% |
| Arizona | 117 | 15.4 | 8% | 8% | 0% | 5% | 4% |
| New Hampshire | 21 | 14.9 | 24% | 24% | 0% | 43% | 24% |
| North Dakota | 11 | 13.8 | 45% | 45% | 0% | 45% | 27% |
| Iowa | 44 | 13.6 | 20% | 20% | 7% | 39% | 16% |
| Rhode Island | 15 | 13.5 | 20% | 20% | 13% | 33% | 20% |
| Michigan | 133 | 13.1 | 14% | 14% | 1% | 17% | 3% |
| Oregon | 53 | 12.4 | 28% | 28% | 8% | 6% | 13% |
| Tennessee | 87 | 12 | 10% | 10% | 1% | 8% | 5% |
| South Dakota | 11 | 11.9 | 9% | 9% | 0% | 36% | 0% |
| Mississippi | 35 | 11.9 | 17% | 17% | 6% | 6% | 3% |
| Delaware | 12 | 11.4 | 17% | 17% | 8% | 17% | 8% |
| Maine | 16 | 11.4 | 25% | 25% | 6% | 31% | 12% |
| Alabama | 58 | 11.2 | 33% | 33% | 10% | 17% | 9% |
| Oklahoma | 44 | 10.7 | 11% | 11% | 7% | 16% | 2% |
| Kentucky | 49 | 10.7 | 12% | 12% | 6% | 10% | 2% |
| Georgia | 117 | 10.5 | 21% | 21% | 5% | 9% | 15% |
| New York | 202 | 10.2 | 32% | 32% | 5% | 21% | 12% |
| Colorado | 61 | 10.2 | 16% | 16% | 3% | 21% | 10% |
| Ohio | 120 | 10.1 | 23% | 23% | 6% | 32% | 8% |
| Washington | 80 | 10.1 | 21% | 21% | 1% | 9% | 14% |
| California | 381 | 9.7 | 15% | 15% | 7% | 4% | 7% |
| Texas | 301 | 9.6 | 15% | 15% | 6% | 10% | 3% |
| Missouri | 60 | 9.6 | 33% | 33% | 12% | 25% | 12% |
| Idaho | 19 | 9.5 | 16% | 16% | 0% | 16% | 0% |
| Nebraska | 19 | 9.5 | 11% | 11% | 0% | 42% | 16% |
| Pennsylvania | 122 | 9.3 | 23% | 23% | 9% | 16% | 10% |
| Nevada | 29 | 8.9 | 10% | 10% | 10% | 3% | 0% |
| Wisconsin | 53 | 8.9 | 17% | 17% | 2% | 36% | 9% |
| Louisiana | 41 | 8.9 | 5% | 5% | 2% | 17% | 17% |
| Minnesota | 50 | 8.6 | 22% | 22% | 10% | 54% | 14% |
| South Carolina | 45 | 8.2 | 16% | 16% | 11% | 16% | 22% |
| Maryland | 51 | 8.1 | 8% | 8% | 2% | 8% | 0% |
| Florida | 180 | 7.7 | 13% | 13% | 4% | 4% | 8% |
| Arkansas | 23 | 7.4 | 13% | 13% | 17% | 30% | 9% |
| New Mexico | 14 | 6.6 | 14% | 14% | 0% | 7% | 0% |
| Virginia | 55 | 6.2 | 15% | 15% | 4% | 22% | 7% |
| North Carolina | 65 | 5.9 | 22% | 22% | 11% | 17% | 12% |
Ready to find one? Browse tracks open to the public by state, or see the best cities for track running.